


Revive

by InsaneSociopath



Series: The Resurrection Chronicles [2]
Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Canon Rewrite, Gen, Star Trek: Into Darkness, immortal au, the Crew learn Jim's Secret
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-07
Updated: 2017-03-19
Packaged: 2018-09-15 10:31:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9230942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsaneSociopath/pseuds/InsaneSociopath
Summary: Five months after the events now known as the Narada Incident, James T. Kirk was named Captain of the USS Enterprise. Precisely 5 days, 6 hours, 17 minutes and 54 seconds after receiving his official commission paperwork assigning him to the brand new ship, he dies from traumatic bloodloss on the top of a grassy knoll in the Grrafgarr Region of the planet currently known only by its designation of Beta-6-4-D.His best friend, Doctor “Bones” McCoy, is with him as he takes his last breath and his heart stutters and stops.An hour and half later, McCoy deliberately injects Jim with a serious anaphylactic-shock-inducing substance and kills him again; he was after all, being a whiny little bitch and definitely had it coming to him.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Yes okay, I gave in and wrote a sequel lol. I suggest you read Survive first if you haven't already :)
> 
> Please point out typos etc. :)

The Enterprise’s scans showed that the planet was home to no sentient life and no dangerous wildlife.

The scans neglected to inform the crew that the extensive plant life was for the most part, incredibly carnivorous and very hungry.

Jim and Bones escape being eaten alive alongside the rest of the landing party purely because Bones panics, trips backwards into a deep hole and accidently drags a startled Jim with him.

* * *

Bones doesn’t find Jim until he finally manages to stumble across an exit to the extensive cave system they apparently tumbled down into. Jim is sitting unconcernedly on the floor in the middle of the opening, pale red sunlight bathing him and reflecting in ripples off of the pool of blood surrounding him.

“Oh my god! What did you do?!” Bones shouts at him, eyes blazing and his hands automatically reaching up to clutch desperately in his hair.

“I cut my arm off,” Jim shrugs nonchalantly. 

“You- _you cut your own arm off!”_ Bones yells horrified, forcing his own arms in to action and desperately grabbing for the field medical kit strapped to his utility belt. 

“No-one saw Bones. I had to get free of the rock and out of the cave somehow!”

“Goddammit Jim! You _cut your arm off!”_

“It’ll grow back!”

“I hate you so much,” Bones growls sharply, compacting the jagged stump of Jim’s elbow with MediGauze, trying futilely to stem the waterfall of blood. “Will you sit still dammit kid! You’re gonna bleed to death unless you let me finish this!”

“Oh just let me bleed out; it’ll be quicker,” Jim replies faintly, swatting weakly at the Doctor’s blood stained hands.

“The bridge crew is monitoring your life signs you moron! How am I supposed to explain your signal fatally terminating!?” Pushing Jim over to lie back on the hair-like purple grass, Bones continues to ignore Jim’s protestations and shoves the windlass into the tourniquet he just strapped around his bicep.

“Bones…” Jim groans breathily, his words stuttering with pain. “Just say- transponder error. Signal cut out. Shortage. Blew up. Poof. Anything. Doesn’t matter. Oh and- and- Bones. Bones promise that- promise me you won’t tell Pike.”

“Oh you can bet your ass I’m grassing you up, you imbecilic infant.” Bones snaps back, “Now clench your jaw; this is gonna hurt like a bitch.”

Bones takes a deep breath and slowly cranks the windlass a turn and a half.

Jim screams in agony through gritted teeth.

And then blacks out because his heart has stopped.

McCoy looks down on the still body of his deceased best friend and sighs deeply.

“You utter bastard!” Bones chuckles darkly, “We told you, Pike and I! No dying we said! And yet you just had to didn’t you! Again!”

Bones kicks Jim’s lifeless shin playfully and flops down into the grass next to him. 

“Utter. Bastard!”

* * *

“Aww fucking hell,” Jim whimpers as oxygen suddenly pours back into his lungs. “Oh god the nerves in my arm. _Oh holy fuck that burns!”_

“Oh stop being dramatic. It’s your own fault for hacking it off with a rock!”

“Oh god, please kill me again until its done.” Jim moans, rolling over to stare pleadingly at his best friend. “oh god please, it hurts so bad! It’s like, at least an eleven! Oh god oh god!”

“Goddamn drama queen,” Bones mutters with a roll of his eyes. “And stop saying oh god, or I’ll shove a thesaurus PADD down your throat until you choke on it.”

Then he palms a hypo full of concentrated shellfish extract and stabs it against Jim’s neck before Jim can continue to whine and moan.

* * *

* * *

The USS Enterprise, Designation NCC-1701, has a standard crew capacity of 832, as well as two dozen empty guest and ambassadorial suites. When you then include the available bed space in the Medbay and the crash cots in engineering, it is possible to accommodate 892 humanoid individuals on board at any one time. More if crew members agree to double up or sleep in shifts.

Out of that possible 892 available berths, 817 are currently in use. Of those 817, precisely 2 know the truth of Jim Kirk’s unique circumstances. One of those is Jim Kirk himself.

Why, McCoy finds himself silently asking yet again as he watches Jim dash off like the reckless madman he is _yet again_ , does the other one have to be _him?_

* * *

They’re currently “enjoying” their fourth mission since the Enterprise launched with one James T. Kirk as its Captain. 

Thankfully only the first had resulted in any fatalities, and even more thankfully, only four people were aware that one of those fatalities had been Jim himself. Jim’s arm had finished re-growing (to Bones’ sickened fascination) in just under three and a quarter hours after its initial amputation, and Bones had managed to get them beamed back on board only 30 minutes after that. 

This fourth mission though, looked like it was gearing up to claim some more casualties. 

They were only supposed to be doing basic milk-run missions. Given the youth and perceived inexperience of the new crew of the Enterprise, the Admiralty of Starfleet were extremely loathe to entrust the ship with anything even resembling a worthwhile assignment. Bones was perfectly happy pottering about doing the easiest tasks the Admiralty could dream up, but Jim and the rest of the command crew were all starting to chafe at the bit. 

Consequently, in a fit of frustration, Jim had forcibly organised a direct HoloVid call with the senior flag officers and then effectively thrown a hissy fit. Given that Spock unexplainably sided with Jim during the ensuing argument, the result was somehow being assigned this mission. 

This mission that was decidedly not a milk-run. 

It’s a class M planet, with semi-technologically advanced inhabitants. Assuming they were roughly following Hodgkin's Law of Parallel Planetary Development, they probably started their industrial revolution about 80 years ago. There were sprawling cities beginning to cover the planet’s surface, churning out mass produced textiles, great metal beams, and a disgusting amount of thick black smog. 

The planet’s natives themselves were unusual humanoid mammal-avian hybrids. They were nearly entirely covered in feathers of all colours, had beaks of all shapes and sizes, and according to Spock’s Tricorder scans, an exceedingly low bone density. Two legs, four arms _and_ at least one pair of huge wings. Whether or not they had evolved to fly… Jim was adamant they would be able to. Spock was decidedly of the opposite opinion. 

As for the mission? Well…

At its heart it was a simple “Observe and Record” assignment. Simple, excepting the part where they had to get into the government headquarters of every nation on the planet and plant microscopic monitoring devices without being seen or detected. Simple, except that there were seven distinct nations on the planet so they were going to have to do it seven times. Simple, if one ignored the part were six of those seven were currently embroiled in an incredibly violent world war. 

It was utter carnage and Bones was excessively grateful that the bird-brains were yet to work out filament lightbulbs, let alone anything nuclear or warp driven.

So here they were, Jim, Spock, Bones, Sulu and two redshirted security officers. Down on a planet trying to tear its self apart using canons, powder pistols and basic steamboats. 

And to really put the cherry on the top? They’d just been seen by one of the bird-people while crawling around one of the nation leader’s offices.

The bird-person had squawked in alarm, sprinted out on to the nearest balcony and _jumped._ Down twelve stories. Jim had gone charging after it despite everyone else’s protests and disappeared down a stairwell, Sulu thankfully close behind him.

“Well, I think that settles that debate,” Bones drawls to Spock as they watch the bird person glide gently down to the driveway below.

“Indeed Doctor. I find that the Captain’s conclusion concerning the species’ use of their wings to be inexplicably accurate. I confess, I am unsure at this moment in time how it is that their physiology obeys the laws of physics and aerodynamics in such a manner to allow them flight. It is a most perturbing quandary.”

Bones chuckles and claps the Vulcan hard on the shoulder. Spock looks at him with the Vulcan equivalent of bewilderment.

“I wouldn’t admit defeat quite yet Spock,” he continues chuckling, “that wasn’t flying, just _falling with style!”_

“I concede you may be right Doctor.” 

“I knew that reference was gonna go right over your Vulcan head. Oh well, come on; we better go find our mentally deficient commanding officer.”

“I surmise that is intended to be a human jest and not a medical pronouncement.”

“Oh no Spock, Jim is definitely five cards short of a full deck. Totally batshit insane and prone to frequent bouts of contagious craziness.

“…Doctor?”

“I’m telling you Spock. For example, he _cut his own arm off_ last month. It’s still stuck under a boulder in a cave.”

“…Doctor!?”

“Well, he got better.”

“I’m not sure it’s the Captain’s mental health that should be called into question in this instance.”

“Just remember one day, that I _totally told you so.”_

* * *

Jim does not catch the bird-person. 

He does trip down the stairs and break his neck. 

Sulu lands on top of him apparently, and then promptly freaks the fuck out.

* * *

To be fair to the Helmsman, Bones had also had a not inconsequential anxiety attack the first time he had watched Jim set his own head back on straight with a loud crack. Of course, that time Jim had nicked his spinal cord with one of the broken sections of C-vertebrae in the process and ended up with quadriplegia for two days. The whole thing had horrified him so much, Bones had dumped his totally paralysed best friend with Chris Pike for the night and gone and drunk half a bar’s worth of alcohol, hoping to permanently purge the sickening images and sounds from his brain. 

So really, Sulu’s deathly paleness and occasional confused noises are quite a mild reaction in comparison. 

“It’s okay Hikaru,” Jim tells the Pilot with an almost-innocent smile, “I’m totally fine see!”

Sulu reaches out and pokes Jim in the neck with his left index finger.

“Nuh uh!” he says violently shaking his head.

Spock stands in the corner silently, one eyebrow raised, pretending not to be confused because that would be considered un-Vulcanly. Bones thanks whatever deities might happen to be listening for ensuring that Jim had finished resurrecting _before_ the rest of them had gotten into the stairwell.

* * *

“He can’t die.” Sulu says disbelievingly later that night. Bones had dragged him down to Medbay and treated him for shock once they’d escaped the bird-people’s war-torn planet. And then afterwards, he’d dragged him into the CMO’s office to treat him for Jim-Exposure. 

“Well he can,” Bones corrects with a sigh, pouring out another two fingers of his good scotch, “he just doesn’t stay dead.”

Sulu stares a hole into the wall behind Bones’ head for several long minutes, and then leans forward to swipe the entire scotch bottle. Bones doesn’t stop him from drinking straight from the neck.

* * *

“You’re immortal Cap’ain!” Sulu drunkenly slurs when Jim finally shows up to help Bones drag the Helmsman to bed. “Tha’s soooo weird. You died and then got undeaded. An’ no-one knows!”

“Woah, how much did you give him!?” Jim asks Bones, struggling with Sulu’s near dead-weight. 

“He’s still conscious, so clearly not enough,” Bones tells him with a raised eyebrow. “He had to deal with your dumb ass after all.”

“I’m not _that_ bad Bonesy!”

“Want a bet kid?”

Jim wisely, does not take the bet.

* * *

* * *

“Nibiru huh?”

“It’s a primitive Class M planet in the centre of the Alpha Quadrant.” Pike tells them from the Vid on the main Bridge view screen. “Looks to be a pretty simple assignment son. You don’t even have to send a landing party down. Just park yourselves in orbit and do some long-range scans.”

“Pushing us back into milk-runs then,” Jim comments dryly, clearly unimpressed.

“Someone’s got to do it Kirk, and Admiral Marcus was correct when he pointed out that you guys are both closest and have the best equipment for the job.”

“But we’re a constellation class ship! And we literally just proved that we can handle more complicated assignments!”

“And yet I don’t give a damn,” Pike deadpans back. Bones chuckles dryly from behind the Captain’s chair, causing Jim to turn and glare up at him quickly. 

“Get to it Captain,” Pike continues. “And if there’s even a whiff of complaining in your report afterwards, I will personally see to it that someone visits you and beats your ass into next week. Brat. Pike out.”

The view screen blinks off before Jim can snap back a witty retort, and Uhura calls out the communication disconnect confirmation. 

Jim sits and stares incredulously at the clear aluminium. 

“Did he just call me a brat on an official logged Comm?” he asks the room at large.

“Well he’s not wrong,” Uhura tells him with a grin.

* * *

Nibiru, Bones discovers to his immense displeasure, is not a stable, quiet, unevolved backwater planet after all.

It’s a very unstable, _volcanically active,_ unevolved backwater planet.

“Captain, the planet’s primary volcano is about to begin a major Plinian eruption. If allowed to continue building, the eruption is likely to wipe out nearly all life on the planet, including the primitive sentients.”

“How likely Spock?” Jim asks sharply, swivelling to face his first officer.

“It is 89.76% likely to cause the mass extinction of 97.342% of all extant genera Captain.”

“Well shit.” Jim summarises rather eloquently.

* * *

“Captain, for the fourth time, _all long-range communications are down!”_

“Well… Keep trying Uhura!”

“What does it look like I’m doing _Captain!”_ The communications officer snaps back, already back to manipulating dials. “But unless you magic away the planet’s crazy magnetic field, _nothing is going to work!”_

“Oh god Bones, what do I do?” Jim whispers desperately to the Doctor.

Bones looks his Captain and best friend straight in the eye.

“I suggest you find a way to hack this no-win scenario and laugh in the face of death kid.”

* * *

“Captain, I should be the one to enter the volcano’s crater. Of all the Enterprise’s current crew members, I have the physiology most suited to withstanding the extreme temperatures and pressures.”

“No Spock, it’s got to be me. I’m the Captain and this is my insane plan, so I’ll be the one to take the risks and shoulder the responsibility.”

“On the contrary Captain. You merely requested that we suggest ideas which would conceivably prevent this disaster. The bridge crew then formulated this, as you phrased it, insane plan _together_ from those ideas. I therefore conclude that logically, we should all share responsibility for any risks taken.”

“Bones!” Jim turns to him suddenly, “tell Spock no!”

“Spock no,” Bones says disinterestedly, not looking up from his PADD and still only half listening.

“See, now you’re medically excluded from abseiling into an active volcano. You can go with Bones down to the village and move the natives out of the danger zone instead.”

“What!” Bones suddenly cries, cutting off Spock’s next line of protestations, PADD instantly forgotten. “Like hell am I goin’ down onto the surface of that ticking time bomb! What if it explodes!? Do you know what lava does to the flesh of humanoids!? Have you ever seen a charred body left in the aftermath of a pyroclastic flow!? Volcanoes are violence and-”

“Yeah we get it Bones,” Jim cuts him off with a grin, “Volcano bad. Now go pack for the away team. Scotty! Just the man I needed to see! How to do feel about turning our spaceship into a sea ship?”

* * *

Bones always thought Jim was uniquely and seriously off his rocker, but Spock it seems, can be just as bad.

“I suggest we take the scroll Doctor.”

“Err, what?”

“The scroll which they are worshiping Doctor. I believe if we were to remove it, they would be compelled to give chase in order to reclaim it and thus remove themselves from the zone of immediate danger.”

“Weren’t you literally just harping on about the prime directive!? That crackpot plan definitely involves being seen by- Oh good, he’s already run off. Dammit Spock! Wait for me! Spock!”

* * *

Through the Comm wedged in his ear, Bones hears Uhura and Sulu desperately yelling at Jim that they have to crank him up back up immediately. 

And then he hears Sulu and Uhura cursing at Jim when the latter unclips his harness and tells them to take the shuttle back to the Enterprise.

And _then_ he notices that the direction Spock is running in is not towards the beach.

* * *

“You goddamn green blooded Hobgoblin! You’re crazy! Oh no no no no no!”

Bones shamelessly screams as he follows Spock’s insane dive off the edge of the cliff.

* * *

“We cannot beam the Captain back on board without a direct line of sight.”

“Guys! Just go! The super ice cube is primed and gonna blow any minute!” Jim’s crackled voice comes over the deteriorating Comm link. “Just ditch me and follow the prime directive! I’m just one guy versus the future development of a whole species!”

“Captain, I am 87.63% certain that if our current roles were reversed, you would be strongly advocating for breaking the rules and retrieving me regardless.”

“Spock. Scotty just said that the Enterprise would have to fly above the ash cloud to get to me. Every native down there would see the ship! That’s not just rule breaking, that’s crushing the rules into a thousand-“

The Comm crackles and dies.

“Goddammit Spock!” Bones shouts at the Vulcan XO, “if we leave him down there, he’ll be rendered as inert as the volcano!”

“I am aware Doctor.”

“Jim would never abandon you to that! Fuck the rules Spock!” 

All Bones can think of is Jim permanently trapped in a giant crystalline matrix, stuck in an endless cycle of suffocating and resurrecting. He couldn’t let that happen. He just couldn’t.

* * *

Jim lands in a soot blackened heap on the transporter pad. 

“Welcome aboard the Enterprise Captain Kirk.”

“Spock! You broke the rules! _You_ broke the rules! Willingly! _You!”_

“It was… suggested that your rescue was the only acceptable course of action to follow.”

Bones snorts at Spock’s tactful phrasing and steps up to where Jim is still lounging on the floor.

“If what I said to you was just a _suggestion_ Spock, then Earth’s pigs really will fly.”

“You threatened him with evisceration didn’t you,” Jim mock whispers, allowing Bones to pull him to his feet. “Thanks Bones. For- well, you know.”

Bones simply raises an eyebrow and starts dragging him towards the Medbay.

* * *

“In reference to your earlier comment Doctor.”

“Yes Spock?”

“You are aware I hope, that standard Terran pigs and other members of the Genus _Sus_ can indeed fly?”

“Spock I’m pretty sure I gave the brain-addling pain drugs to Jim, not you.”

“But doctor, in the modern age of spaceflight and mechanical aviation, you must consider that logically all one would have to do would be place the animal in question inside a suitable transport shuttle?”

“Spock. Get out of my Medbay right now.”

* * *

* * *

Bones’ PADD crackles to life with a series of piercing beeps.

Groaning, he rolls over in bed and palms the offending device. When he notices the name displayed under the incoming ‘Vid notification, he seriously contemplates throwing it aside and ignoring it in favour of going back to sleep.

“What kid?” he grumbles lowly at the screen instead after accepting the call, squinting at the painful brightness of the backlight. “It’s before 10am on our first day of Earth shore leave; this had better be important!”

“I know Bones, but I got a Comm from Pike!”

“So? He Comms you all the damn time. Common zombie affliction remember?”

“No! I mean an official Comm! For both Spock and I! He asked for a formal meeting! You _have_ to know what it’ll be about right?”

Bones has a sinking feeling he really does know.

“If he hands you a five-year mission briefing, I will personally go over there and slice his fingers off and force feed them to him so he can never sign off on such ridiculousness ever again. I refuse to go into deep space for that length of time!”

“You have no sense of adventure Bones! Alright look, I gotta find my dress uniform and meet up with Spock now, but I’ll keep you posted!”

* * *

By noon, Bones still hasn’t heard back from Jim and is starting to worry. 

It’s really not like Jim to keep quiet when he’s excited.

Which probably means he’s not excited.

Which is, well, _worrying._

* * *

1258\. The doorbell to his apartment buzzes.

“Oh thank god,” he drawls and shuffles over to the door to let Jim in.

“Where the hell you been kid? I was beginning to wonder if you’d drowned in the bay or somethi- You’re not Jim.”

“It’s okay, it’s an easy mistake to make,” Pike deadpans at him. “both tall, good looking, Captainly types with a tendency to open our mouths and say the wrong thing.”

“Ahh, you wonna come in Admiral? I have coffee brewing. And pants.” He hastily adds after glancing down, suddenly embarrassed. “I’m gonna go put pants on and pretend to be a competent adult.”

Pike steps in through the door with a chuckle and Bones turns tail and scampers away into his bedroom post haste.

* * *

“I think I really fucked up McCoy.”

“I think you probably have Jim’s tendency to over exaggerate the scale of your fuck ups.”

“Oh I’m pretty sure both my ability to both fuck up and to exaggerate the fuck up predates Mr. Kirk’s existence.”

“It’s still a habit you have in common, regardless of its origin. So come on then, what did you do this time?”

Pike glances away and takes a long swallow from the mug he’d been handed upon entering the small kitchen. 

“Nibiru.”

“What about it?” Bones asks, suddenly going cold.

“After reading your reports, the senior admiralty took the decision to demote Jim and reassign Spock.”

“…Shit.”

“Yeah,” Pike sighs, pinching his brow with his free hand, “and they made me deliver the news to the two of them.”

“So now the dumbass is blaming you as if you were the one who took his ship away, when really you were just the messenger.”

Pike chuckles darkly.

“Actually I lost my temper and yelled at him. Told him he was immature and didn’t deserve the chair. And I may have unintentionally implied that he should be sent back to the academy.”

Bones stops mid swallow and stares at the other man.

“When I said, “I really fucked up”, I meant it,” Pike sighs again, and turns to lean his forehead on the door of one of the top cupboards. “I’m such an asshole. I wasn’t even mad at Jim. He technically did nothing wrong.”

“So what the hell were you thinking you idiot!?” Bones exclaims.

“I wasn’t thinking!” Pike shouts, swivelling back around and beginning to pace. “I’m a short-tempered bastard with an anxiety disorder and I didn’t think before opening my mouth! They were 100% right to break the Prime Directive and stop that volcano as far as I’m concerned, but certain flag officers -one’s who’ve never sat in the chair for a single day in their entire _life_ \- well they think that Jim’s being an unstable influence on Spock and tempting him into reckless behaviour patterns. Combine that with the fact that their official mission reports don’t quite match up-”

“What? Yes they do!” Bones interrupts. “Erm. Not that I read either of them that is,” he adds hastily, coughing sheepishly. “Official documents and all. The Enterprise and its crew are all regulation abiding, competent individuals sir.”

“Sure McCoy.” Pike snorts, “we both know Kirk can’t spell for shit, and yet that report was nearly grammatically perfect. But ignoring your illicit proof-reading for now, the fact remains that Jim and Spock’s reports don’t entirely agree. Specifically, in Jim’s, _Jim_ claims to be solely responsible for both deciding to halt the volcano and to reveal the Enterprise to the locals. But in Spock’s, _Spock_ is the one making the decisions and therefore the one to blame for any mishaps.”

“And the rest of us putting that the whole senior command team should share the responsibility probably didn’t help.” Bones groans. “That’s what Jim and Spock’s reports originally said too; they must have altered theirs just before submitting them.”

“No it really didn’t help, no Doctor.”

“Great. Self-sacrificing idiots, the both of them.”

“So anyway, the overwhelming belief is that either you’re _all_ covering up something more serious and therefore lying on official reports; apparently evidenced by your collective inability to keep your story straight. Which is total bullshit. Or, just Spock or just Jim is the one lying and trying to cover up a mistake in order to save their own hides. Either way, apparently neither of them can be trusted. Thus demotion and reassignment. And I was so angry because of that pathetically short-sighted and unfair decision, that when Jim justifiably protested it, I snidely asked him if he actually _was_ lying in his report.”

“Christ almighty Pike! No wonder he shouted back at you!”

“And then there was a lot of angry, thoughtless shouting all round. And now he’s stormed off to goodness knows where, and I can’t find him to apologise. I was really hoping he had come here to you to sulk.” 

“Sir. We need to find him now. Before he does something stupid.”

“No shit McCoy; there’s a reason I’m bitching at you instead of to my own damn friends. Grab your coat and boots and come on.”

* * *

Two hours of fruitless searching later, and Pike suggests they split up to cover more ground. 

Bones heads towards the bay and the waterfront park areas; Pike decides to head back towards Campus and all the bars concentrated nearby.

* * *

_//Got him. The back barroom in Gordo’s Place. Far end of Highland Avenue. Still sober. For now.//_

Bones reads Pike’s Comm twice more, before rushing back towards the park gates and the road. Hopefully, he’d manage to hail an aircab on the first try.

* * *

_//Called to an emergency session. Jim with me. I’ll bring him to yours after.//_

Bones sighs in frustration, closes this second Comm, and tells the cab driver his apartment block address instead.

* * *

“Bones.”

“Jesus wept Jim, what the hell happened!? Apparently there was a huge explosion in London and now another one here on Campus! The Holonet is going crazy! And you look like shit! Are those _flames_ I can see behind you!?”

Jim shifts his PADD so that all Bones can see through the ‘Vid call is Jim’s battered face and a blank white wall.

“I’m not supposed to- Bones it’s all confidential. But- But it’s gonna be all over the Holonet anyway within an hour. Just don’t- You didn’t hear this from me okay?”

“Jim…”

“There was a terrorist attack on the Daystrom room in the HQ building.” He exhales shakily, “And _all_ of the senior command officers and XO’s currently on or close by earth were in the room. _All of them Bones.”_

“Oh fucking hell,” Bones cusses violently, shoving his fist against his mouth in shock.

“Bones.” Jim continues, obviously holding back tears, “Pike… he…they gave him the Enterprise back, so he was here too. And. Everyone saw. He took a high-powered phasor blast square to the chest. Spock tried to save him but- I’m amazed he didn’t die instantly. But. Spock got to him just after. Fuck, Spock was melded with him when he went under. You know when he- And everyone was screaming and dying around us. And I threw a fire hose at the bastard’s ship. The terrorist I mean. It went down but- Oh god Bones, everyone saw Pike die. He can’t safely come back from that! What are we gonna-“

“Kirk son, come on, come with me.” A second rusty voice cuts across the Comm call and the ‘Vid Cam shakes.

“Archer?” Bones hears distantly across the connection.

“James, come on now. We have perhaps 5 minutes max before someone notices that the hole in Mr Pike’s chest is starting to close over. We have to move him now.”

“But- we can’t just drag him off in front of everyone! That room is swarming with people. They’ll-”

The blurry ‘Vid image shakes and rattles once more before cutting out completely. Bones stares wide-eyed at the screen, and then launches himself off the couch.

Then he grabs his boots and his medical bag and bolts out the door.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have you _any_ idea how often Bones changes his shirt in this film? Almost literally every scene, I swear to _god_

Revive 2

“Sir! Sir! You can’t go in there! It’s an authorised personnel only area!”

“I’ll give you authorised,” Bones growls angrily at the security lieutenant trying to stop him from entering Starfleet HQ. “I’m a Starfleet trauma doctor and the goddamn CMO of the Enterprise! Both my Captain and my XO are up there, so you will _not_ keep stopping from going and treating them and every other poor bugger in need of help! Move dammit man, there are people dying up there!”

Despite his impassioned speech and constant physical shoving against the man, the security officer refuses to budge. Bones futilely rams his shoulder against him once more, but then finds that he’s been grabbed from behind.

“It’ll be your conscience their deaths will be on you bastard!” Bones shouts furiously as he’s dragged back away from the door by two different members of the security team. “Every single person that I could have saved and didn’t because of you? On! Your! Conscience!”

* * *

They throw him bodily back into the crowd behind the cordon barriers. He lands heavily on his back and shoulders, his canvas medical bag clattering noisily to the pavement beside him.

“Oh you are gonna regret that!” he shouts at their retreating backs, ignoring the clamouring of the press-members quickly surrounding him.

Then he stands, up, calmly dusts his pants off and pulls his PADD out of his bag.

And loads up Admiral Jonathan Archer’s private Comm number.

* * *

Bones takes _great_ pleasure in giving the three security personnel his middle finger as he’s escorted straight through all the security checkpoints and into the building’s main turbolift.

* * *

“Bones!” Jim shouts from across the room, “Bones! Over here!”

The Daystrom Conference room is a hive of activity. Despite having to run across campus and then being held up by security, Bones enters the room only 23 minutes after the attack. 

Wind is whistling through the empty window panes, whipping at the clothing of those darting back and forth across the floor and causing shattered pieces of glass to rattle musically against one another. Occasionally a strangled moan or low groan rises above the low drone of background activity, as the few casualties still awaiting an emergency beam over to Medical are tended to by the handful of first-aiders scattered about. The thick, cloying stench of blood and seared flesh fills the room, strong enough that the constant strong breeze fails to wipe it completely away, and the overhead lights flicker and spark in their damaged sockets.

Bones takes a step forward and shattered plaster and shards of twisted metal slick with blood crunch under his foot. It’s only due to long practice and his medical degree that he manages to swallow down the nausea that rises in his throat on his first attempt.

* * *

“Jim! Jim what the hell happened in here!?”

“John Harrison happened Bones.”

“Who?”

“A Starfleet madman in an armed Jumpship.”

“The guy who did this is ‘Fleet!? Fucking hell Jim!”

Jim doesn’t reply again, instead silently taking the empty hypo from Bones’ hands and shifting over to allow Bones better access to the unconscious woman lying between them.

* * *

They lean against the cool metal of a distorted metal wall panel and watch as an engineering crew finish rigging up the last plasma force-screen and seal the room away from the outside elements once again. 

Bones turns to look at his exhausted best friend, who sighs deeply and drops his head back against the wall, eyes sliding closed.

“Jim.” Bones says softly, his hand settling gently on the younger man’s shoulder.

“I should have worked it out quicker Bones. If I’d have just realised sooner, I could have-“

“Could’ve, should’ve, would’ve kid. No use wondering what might have been. You’re alive, Spock’s alive, Pike is... well no doubt he’ll soon be alive. Let it be enough Jim.”

“But so many others- What if I’d been faster Bones!?”

“Jim it’s okay. You did good kid.”

Jim chuckles harshly.

“It sure does _not_ feel like it Doc.” And then, before Bones can protest again, “Christ, I hope Archer’s looking after Pike properly. Having your chest cavity pretty much liquidated hurts like a bitch. All those organs you have to regrow. And there’s always all this mucus crap that spews out of your lungs as they reseal. Eugh.”

“Jim that’s gross, shut up.”

“It’s a sickly yellow and it smells Bones. And it stains all your clothes and hands and _doesn’t come out.”_

“I will cut your throat to stop you from talking.”

“It’s almost as bad as rupturing your bowels. There was this one time when I…”

“Oh Jesus fucking Christ. Forget it, I’m gonna go find Spock and make him go home.”

* * *

* * *

“Bones, Scotty found something in the wreck. I dunno what it is yet, but he says it’s important and I should take it straight to Marcus.”

Bones sighs tiredly at his PADD and sits up in bed, trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes. 

“I should probably start repacking my ship bunk crate, shouldn’t I?” he drawls sarcastically. “And make sure the Medbay is fully restocked right?”

“No promises Bones. Technically she’s not my ship again. Yet.”

The Comm freezes for a second on Jim’s smirking face before blinking out. Bones rolls his eyes anyway.

* * *

_//Attention all Crew. Enterprise scheduled for departure at 1300. Begin boarding immediately. Loading information is attached. Further information to follow. Cpt J.T. Kirk.//_

Bones only skims the message once before going back to shouting at the two technicians currently stowing the medical oxygen tanks onto the shuttle _all wrong_ damn them.

* * *

“Mr Spock. Status report.”

“The Enterprise should be ready for launch by the time we arrive.”

Bones follows Jim onto the officer’s shuttle and stows the last of his gear in one of the underseat lockers. Spock is already seated, and Jim drops down directly next to him, fiddling with the collar of his jacket 

“Captain,” Spock begins again, sounding almost nervous to Bones’ ears, “thank-you for requesting that I be reinstated alongside you.”

“Don’t sweat it Spock.” Jim grunts back, shuffling.

“As I am now your first officer again, it is now my duty to strongly object to our mission parameters.”

“Objection noted.” Jim replies immediately, glancing back to where Bones is strapping himself in behind them. “Trust me Spock, I’m not entirely comfortable with them either.”

“What _are_ the mission parameters?” Bones asks, leaning forward and hooking his arms over the top of Jim’s seat. 

“We’re supposed to park up at the edge of the neutral zone, fire off a round of torpedoes at Kronos. and make Harrison go Boom.”

“Wait, isn’t that the Klingon Home world!? We’re firing torpedoes at Klingons!?” Bones exclaims. “What the hell is Marcus thinking!?”

“He’s angry Bones. You know he recruited Pike right? And he thinks- Well. He saw Pike die…”

Bones notices that Spock glances away at those words, the flat line of his mouth tightening infinitesimally before smoothing out again. 

“The actions proposed by Admiral Marcus are not only against Starfleet regulations Captain, but are undoubtedly morally wrong. I believe we should consider our other options carefully before blindly following our orders.”

“We will Spock, we will.”

* * *

“Damn Bones, would you stop doing that with your hands? it’s very distracting!”

Bones realises he’s absentmindedly playing with the gold triangles on Jim’s lapels at precisely the same moment a young, blonde haired woman steps onto the shuttle, and snatches his hands back so fast he almost smacks the side of Spock’s head. Completely oblivious to Bones’ fumbling, Jim immediately sits up straighter and an easy smirk fixes on his face. Bones shares a look with Spock; if Spock had been the type to do so, Bones was pretty sure they would have just mutually rolled their eyes. 

“Captain. Science Officer Wallace. I've been assigned to the Enterprise by Admiral Marcus. These are my transfer orders.”

Spock raises an eyebrow and pulls another not-frowning Vulcan face.

“You requested an additional Science Officer Captain?”

“I wish I had.” Jim smirks, glancing back once again at Bones. Bones silently calls Jim an Infant. “Look Spock, she’s good at physics and likes big guns. You’ll get along swimmingly.”

“They are indeed impressive qualifications. But redundant-“

“Spock.” Bones interrupts. “Don’t upset Jimmy by telling him no. Take a seat Lieutenant Wallace, and welcome to the crazy train,” he grins, pulling her past him to sit in his row. And buckle up cuz’ no doubt we’ll be goin’ off the rails.”

“Doctor, I find your statement perplexing as neither this shuttle, nor the Enterprise, qualify to be described as a train.”

Jim laughs outright at Spock’s expression. Bones just chuckles and throws his arms back over Jim’s seat.

* * *

“Captain!”

“Is there a problem Mr Scott?” 

“Yes sir. I was just explaining to this gentleman that I cannae authorize any weapons on board this ship without knowing what's inside them!”

“Mr Scott, Commander Spock and I are aware of the issues with the Torpedoes and are taking steps to resolve them.”

“Captain, I do not recall-”

“Sure you do Spock. I’ll meet you on the bridge. Dismissed.”

Spock pauses only a second before nodding and swiftly heading out of the engineering hanger bay. Bones watches him leave silently, and then turns back to Jim again, only to find him arguing with Scotty once more over the torpedo specs. 

“…So I said, no specs, no signature! Now if you’ll excuse me I have a warp core to prime!”

And with that, the chief engineer stalks off too.

“Bones I really need to talk to you alone. Meet you in Medbay in ten yeah?” Jim garbles at him as he starts after the engineer. “Scotty! Scotty wait! I need you to-”

Jim is soon lost in the crowd of crewman. With little other choice, he glances once more at the disturbing torpedoes and leaves to report to Medbay.

* * *

“Jim, in here,” he nods at the door to the CMO’s office. He’s barely gotten the door shut behind them before Jim is off ranting.

“Dammit Bones, Scotty just quit, I’ve got a hold full of suspicious advanced weaponry, Pike and Archer have up and vanished completely, Admiral Marcus is acting more shifty than a dog hiding a chewed up boot, and Spock is questioning my every move because I can’t tell him half the reasons I’m acting so paranoid!”

Bones looks at his best friend steadily, patiently waiting for him to stop pacing. 

“Pike and Archer have disappeared?” he asks finally asks carefully once Jim has taken a couple of deep breathes and re-centred himself. 

“Yeah.” He breathes back. “I would have explained this last night, but Spock was hanging about listening in. So, after I comm’d you, Archer and I dragged Pike into the archive office adjacent to the Daystrom room and Archer got him a priority beam across to the Hospital. I remotely hacked the transporter and altered the coordinates slightly, so he went straight into an isolation suite. Doctor Boyce was there waiting for him -you know Boyce right? He’s good friends with Pike and he was supposed to make it look like he survived the shot to the chest. Unconscious but alive, right? But we still hadn’t heard anything by the time you and I left HQ. So Archer said he was going over there.”

“And now he’s vanished too.” Bones finishes for him.

“Yeah he has. No-one’s answering Comms, I couldn’t spot them on the Holovid security footage I borrowed from Starfleet Medical’s server, there’s no medical record of Pike being admitted, and Archer’s house was unlocked but empty when I went over there. Even his dogs are gone. No sign of Boyce either. I was about to call you when Scotty found the transwarp beaming device.”

“And Marcus?” Bones asks, concern growing in his gut by the second.

“This is where it gets worse. The first thing he did when I arrived was offer me his consolations for Pike’s death and inform me that his family was arranging the funeral.”

Bones feels his eyebrows shoot up into his hairline.

“I checked on my way to the shuttle Bones. Someone changed Pike’s status to KIA a couple of hours ago. And it wasn’t the hospital or Archer; the encoding was all wrong for that. If it _was_ Archer, I have no clue what game he’s playing or how he did it.”

He pauses to breathe deeply again. Bones reaches over and cups the side of his neck with his palm.

“In the meantime,” Jim eventually continues, “Marcus told me the target of the London attack was a special security division. Section 33; Black Ops in all but officialdom. This Harrison guy was an operative. We’re supposed to take these photon torpedoes, wipe him out with them and then haul ass before the Klingons realise it was us shooting their planet up. Bones, he specified this assignment was off the record.”

“Jesus Jim, this has dodgy written all over it.”

“Fuck Bones, I just don’t know. Maybe he genuinely does think Pike is dead and is emotionally compromised by that? But Pike never really talks about him you know? Archer sure, all the time. Nogura, April or Barnett? Yeah, they drink together. He even bitches about Komack on a semi-regular basis. But Marcus? He only ever mentions Marcus in a professional capacity. I just feel like I’m being manipulated and I don’t like it.”

“And Scotty just quit because he can smell the funk too and has enough sense to get out before it explodes in his face. You’re right kid; we’re in shit here.”

“So fucking deep Bones. Ah dammit it all, I gotta get to the bridge for launch; I’m already late and I’ve got to throw Chekov into the deep end and get him to pick up Scotty’s slack first!”

Bones lets him go with a sympathetic smile and a shake of his head.

* * *

The ship wide broadcast channel beeps open and Bones pauses in his final prep work to look up at the nearest screen.

“Attention crew of the Enterprise. As most of you know, last night an attack was staged upon a formal Captain’s meeting. Unfortunately, many of our colleagues were severely injured or killed, including Christopher Pike, former Captain of this ship and our friend. The man responsible for the attack has fled our system and is hiding on the Klingon home-world, somewhere he believes we are unwilling to go. We are on our way there now. Per Admiral Marcus, it is essential that our presence go undetected. Tensions between the Federation and the Klingon Empire have been high. Any provocation could lead to an all-out war.”

Jim pauses, the silence stretching. Bones holds his breath, tension thrumming through his body.

“I will personally lead a landing party to an abandoned city on the surface of Kronos where we will capture the fugitive, John Harrison, and return him to Earth so he can face judgment for his actions. Alright. Let’s go get this son of a bitch. Kirk out.”

Bones exhales in one long breath.

“Good plan kid,” he mutters to himself, reaching again for the packs of Medigauze he was organising.

* * *

* * *

The ship drops out of warp unexpectedly with an almighty judder and Bones staggers forward.

As soon as he’s regained his footing, he turns and runs to the turbolift.

* * *

There’s a problem with the warp core.

Bones is instantly suspicious.

* * *

“Bones? Stop talking in metaphors. That’s an order.”

“Jim? Don’t get yourself killed by Klingons. That’s an order too.”

“Shut-up and stay here with Acting-Captain Sulu. You can metaphorically offer him support. Uhura, Spock, come on; we’ve got a K’Normian ship to catch.”

* * *

Sulu, Bones decides, is a scary-ass motherfucker when he wants to be.

* * *

* * *

“Bones. Meet me in the brig.”

Bones breathes a sigh of relief as he watches Jim, Spock and a squadron of redshirts march their new captive out of the hanger bay and towards the security deck.

“Be right there Captain.”

* * *

As soon as he catches up to Jim in the corridor, he steps up next to him and companionably knocks their shoulders together. Jim smiles briefly at him, but frowns again as they round the corner into the brig. 

“Why the hell did he surrender anyway?” he asks his best friend, absently noting that he had found time to change back into his gold command shirt at some point.

“I don’t know. But he just took out a squadron of Klingons single handedly.”

“Sounds like we have a real-life superman on board.”

“Or just someone who’s got no reason to be afraid of dying,” Jim says meaningfully, glancing down at himself.

Bones grimaces and swallows hard.

* * *

* * *

“23-17-46-11”

“Sound like co-ordinates kid.”

“They are. I’m gonna call Scotty and get him to go take a peak.”

“You do that. I’m going to the bridge to find Spock, see if his computer brain can’t untangle this pile of mental spaghetti glooping all over this damn mission.”

* * *

“Wait? You wonna pop open a torpedo on the word of a madman? Are you out of your corn-fed mind Jim!?”

“Why did he surrender Bones? It doesn’t make any sense…”

“You know what else doesn’t make any sense? I got a list of things that’s forty foot long, and right now “open up top secret classified missile” is sitting right at the top of it!”

“The Doctor does have a valid point Captain,” Spock interjects

“Look, even Spock agrees with me. That should make you uncomfortable. It definitely makes me uncomfortable. In fact, don’t ever agree with me again Spock, it’s uncomfortable. Jim, this is a bad idea; I mean come on! We don’t even have anyone on the crew who’s qualified to go poking around inside one of those four foot sticks of dynamite and disaster!”

Spock abruptly looks completive. Bones grimaces as he suddenly realises he’s learnt to read Spock’s non-expressions. 

“Actually Captain, we do indeed have a qualified crewmember.”

Jim pauses.

“We do?”

“The Admirals daughter sir.”

“…What Admiral’s daughter!?”

“Carol Marcus sir, though she used her mother’s maiden name when forging her transfer documents.”

“…Oh you have got to be kidding me!”

* * *

* * *

“What!? Oh hell no Jim!”

“Please? I will love you forever?”

“Why the hell can’t you go? If you get blown up, you’ll just grow back together again. I won’t!”

“Well the general idea is not to explode the torpedo and blow yourself up Bones. Besides, your hands are _much_ steadier than mine, so your far less likely to accidently kill _Admiral goddamn Marcus’s stowaway daughter.”_

“Fine, but if I die, I will come back and kill you too.”

* * *

He’s lying back on the black gravel of the planetoid, panting. There’s a ring of pain around his forearm where the missile casing clamped around him.

“Jim,” he says through his Comm device, uncaring who else might be listening in, “I don’t care how much you love me, I’m never taking part in your suicidal stupidity ever again, ya hear me?”

* * *

And then he stands up and looks inside the missile.

* * *

“Bones! Bones! Oh my god Bones!”

As soon as he steps off the transporter pad, he finds himself engulfed by Jim’s arms.

“Cluckin’ Christ Jim! What the hell’s wrong with you!?”

“You just almost died Bones!”

“Yeah well I didn’t,” he mumbles, embarrassed by the knowing smug looks of the other crewmembers waiting in the transporter room. He pats Jim on the back a few times, but Jim still doesn’t let go.

* * *

* * *

Once they’ve moved the missile down to the Medbay, they get to work on extracting an examining the cryotube hidden within it. The technology is extremely outdated, and it doesn’t take Bones long to realise that any attempt to extract the man inside the tube will probably just result in them having a frozen corpse to deal with.

Then he does a full body physiology scan with the Medbay’s primary Tricorder scanner.

And discovers how old the man in the tube is.

* * *

They’re standing together in the back corner of Medbay. Across the room, Spock is helping Carol Marcus dismantle the warhead end of the tube casing. Bones dips his head down alongside Jim’s ear and talks lowly, Jim’s own breath a hot damp brand down the side of his neck.

“Jim, he’s over 300 years old. You know what this could mean right?”

“They might all be like me…”

“A whole ship’s crew of immortals. What are we gonna do kid?”

“I dunno Bones. Look, I’m gonna take Spock and go talk to Harrison, see what he has to say.”

“You sure that’s wise Jim?”

“Well, I don’t have a better idea? Do you?”

* * *

Bones is just beginning to wonder if Jim is actually going to come back to Medbay when the security guys suddenly stride in with Harrison in their midst. Without Jim. 

Not knowing what else to do, he makes the man sit down on the edge of a biobed and sets a nurse to scanning him with every non-invasive medical device he can find.

* * *

“Tell me where he is.” Marcus demands.

A pause.

“He's in engineering, sir.” Jim replies, his sigh clear over the ship-wide broadcast. “But I'll have him moved to the transporter room right away.”

Bones looks over his shoulder at the man who’s name is apparently Khan, not Harrison. Khan, who is decidedly not in engineering.

“I'll take it from here.” Marcus finishes, the broadcast closing with a single beep afterwards.

 _Yup,_ Bones thinks ruefully, _you were definitely being manipulated kid…_

* * *

The ship shudders minutely, and the familiar low thrumming of warp vibrates through the deck under Bones feet. _Thank frikin’ god..._

“Well, at least we’re moving again,” he says out loud, running a heat-output scanner down over Khan’s face.

“If you think you’re safe at warp, your wrong,” Khan speaks expressionlessly. Expressionlessly except for the way his eyes flicker meaningfully over to Lieutenant Marcus stood by Bones’ side. 

Carol Marcus’ eyes widen dramatically at the look, and she’s turned and sprinted off before Bones can even formulate a “what now!?”

* * *

“OH FUCKING HELL JIM!” Bones shouts at no-one in particular as the first impact on the ship’s hull causes him to lurch forward hard into a bulkhead.

“PREPARE FOR INCOMING CASUALTIES!” he yells as well, as soon as he’s managed to haul himself back upright.

Four foot away, Khan watches him dispassionately as he climbs back to his feet, acting, to Bones’ great annoyance, almost unaffected by the explosions and impacts echoing throughout the ship.

* * *

The bombardment stops after one final groaning rumble through the Enterprise.

Bones sighs deeply in relief and carries on co-ordinating Triage for the crewmembers beginning to trickle into Medbay. 

Khan continues to stand completely still looking almost smug.

* * *

“Sir, my crew was just following my orders. I take full responsibility for my actions. But they were mine and they were mine alone. If I transmit Khan's location to you now, all that I ask is that you spare them. Please, sir. I'll do anything you want. Just let them live.”

Bones closes his eyes and swallows thickly, all too aware that Jim probably has no idea his plea was just transmitted to the entire ship.

* * *

The nurses of Medbay have gotten all the injured bedded down or patched up ready to discharge, when Jim comes storming in with a look of strong determination on his face. 

“Tell me everything you know about that ship.” He demands of Khan. Bones twists in his seat so that he can see the two of them behind him. 

“Two times the size, three times the speed. Advanced weaponry. Modified for a minimal crew. Unlike most Federation vessels, it's built solely for combat.”

“I will do everything I can to make you answer for what you did. But right now I need your help.”

 _Yeah,_ thinks Bones, _we need all the damn help we can get._

* * *

Jim eventually finishes manipulating Khan into aiding him, and finally notices that Bones is manhandling a dead tribble.

When Bones tells him what he’s doing with it, Jim gives him a funny look and opens his mouth, but doesn’t go any further than that; he glances at Khan once again, and his mouth closes with a snap.

* * *

When he actually hears about Jim’s crackpot plan for dealing with Marcus’ humongous ship, Bones swears a blue streak, throws his standard science blues back on hurriedly, and races up to the bridge.

If Jim is going to pull yet another stupid suicidal stunt, he wants to be somewhere he’ll have a better chance of handling the potential fallout.

* * *

“Tell me this is gonna work,” he garbles to Spock as they listen to Jim and Khan make their final preparations. 

“I have neither the information nor the confidence to do so, Doctor.”

“Boy, you’re a _real_ comfort.”

* * *

As soon as Spock pulls the trigger and ejects Jim and Khan out the exhaust port, Bones jumps up and takes over one of the computer stations tracking their progress across the debris field. 

“Jim you’re way off course!” he strangles out the first time Jim swerves violently to avoid debris.

After that, he stays silent, his throat too locked up in fear to form words.

* * *

“They’re in!” Sulu shouts in relief.

Bones closes his eyes and releases the breath he hadn’t realised he was holding.

* * *

He stands uneasily behind Spock’s shoulder as the other, older Spock gravely informs them that Khan Noonien Singh was the most dangerous adversary that their Enterprise ever faced.

* * *

“Dr. McCoy, you inadvertently activated a torpedo. Could you replicate the process?”

“Why the hell would I want to do that Spock?”

“Can you or can you not?”

“Damn it, man, I'm a doctor, not a torpedo technician!”

“The fact that you are a doctor is precisely why I need you to listen very carefully.”

* * *

“Okay people!” Bones drawls, trying desperately to inject confidence into his voice. “You work in pairs. One of you pushes this down _here.”_ A clunk. “And the other then rips this chunk out. Capiche? Oh, and remember; work quickly, but for the love of all y’all’s gods, _work carefully!”_

* * *

“Bones! Bones!”

He looks up at the sound of Jim’s voice, and grins. Both a nurse and Uhura run over to aid Carol when he calls, and then Jim is free to stride up to him, a smirk of his own decorating his face.

“Good to see you still alive Jim,” he deliberately understates, still smiling.

Jim responds by laughing and throwing his arms around him.

* * *

“You helped Spock detonate those torpedoes?” Jim asks into his shoulder.

“Damn right I did.”

Jim jerks, and leans back just far enough to look Bones in the eye.

“Bones he killed Khan’s crew!”

“Oh please,” he chuckles back, “Spock’s cold, but he ain’t _that_ cold! _I’ve_ got Khan’s crew!”

Jim’s expression morphs into a mixture of shock and confusion, so Bones twists in his arms and nods down the extended Medbay wing. Where row after row of tubes are neatly laid out.

“Seventy-two human popsicles,” he continues, humour clear in his voice, “safe and sound in their cryotubes.”

Jim’s grin returns with force.

“Son of a _Bitch!”_

* * *

And then the power cuts out.

* * *

They both feel the unnatural surge in motion at the same time, and in the same instant they step apart and fall immediately back into professional mode.

Jim grabs Scotty and runs for engineering.

Bones starts calling out emergency lockdown procedure orders and rushes to the nearest biobed to strap the poor bugger occupying it down.

* * *

“I hope you don’t get seasick,” he drawls sarcastically to Carol when he comes to her bed. 

“Do you?” she grimaces back.

“Yeah,” he smirks humourlessly.

* * *

“Fuck Fuck FUCK FUCK!” he shouts as the gravity system begins critically failing. “HANG ON TO SOMETHING GUYS!”

* * *

_“Attention, all decks. Evacuation protocols initiated. Proceed to exit bays and report to your assigned shuttle.”_

“NO FUCKING SHIT!” screams Bones, as he uses the temporary return to the correct gravitational orientation to shove the biobeds of the most critical patients into the nearest medical evacuation pod.

* * *

* * *

The ship stabilises.

Across the Medbay, a communicator whirrs and beeps.

* * *

“Engineering to Medbay, Scotty here.”

“McCoy speaking.”

“Doctor, Spock’s already here but… I think you ‘ad better get down here too. It’s Jim, he’s…”

“Oh my god, what did that moron do _now!”_

* * *

By the time he makes in down to the warp core chamber, Spock has already left again.

And Jim’s body lies trapped in an irradiated chamber behind a sealed door.

“McCoy, I think Spock- I think he’s goin’ afta Khan,” Scotty tells him through his tears. “Someone ‘as to, considerin’ what he’s gone an’ done to our Captain.”

Bones closes his eyes and silently curses Jim’s name to the high heavens.

“Let me guess,” he drawls, turning to face the engineer. “Jim neglected to tell y’all that he’ll be fine and dandy and winging like hell about twenty minutes after we pull him out of this irradiated death trap?”

“Ack, Doctor? What do you mean he’ll-”

“Start the decontamination process Scotty. And Comm Sulu and get him down here; I’m gonna need some unsurprised backup.”

* * *

“Oh my god Bones whhhhyy,” shrieks Jim, raking his fingernails down his own face.

“Oh stop being dramatic, you were barely dead,” Bones snarks back, forcing him to lie back down.

Sulu catches Scotty when he faints dead away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> But can you imagine Spock and Jim's dramatic warpcore scene in this AU lol
> 
> "Aw hell, this radiation is stinging like _fuck_ Spock..."
> 
> "Jim... you have been and will always be my friend; I find I cannot contemplate a future without you in it."
> 
> "Yeah, but I my fingers are really tingly Spock, I shouldn't have gotten in here. Oh no Spock, it's okay, don't look so sad... I'll be okay."
> 
> "Jim, stay with me Jim!"
> 
> "S'okay Spock, jus' gonna conk out for a bit, okay? Jus' be a few minutes..."
> 
> "....."
> 
> "....."
> 
> "....KHHHHHAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNN!!!!!!"


	3. Chapter 3

Bones’ mind is whirring at top speed.

Far too many people know that Jim crawled into the warp core chamber. And that doing so is guaranteed to be a one-way trip. 

Nearly the entire crew believe that their Captain is dead. Hells, half of them _saw_ him dead as they carried him quickly up to and through Medbay and into the nearest isolation chamber. 

Bones desperately needs a way to explain that Jim’s very much alive still that doesn’t involve the words “immortal” or “resurrected.”

* * *

Wait…

Is that- Is that Tribble _breathing!?_

* * *

“McCoy, I’m acting Captain. I really need to get back to the Bridge.” Sulu suddenly says from by the door, Scotty still resting unconscious by his feet.

“Go Sulu,” Jim groans back with a wave before Bones can answer himself, “We’ll handle Scotty.”

“I think you mean _I’ll_ handle Scotty kid.” Bones injects wryly, nodding at the Helmsman as he steps back out into the bustle of the main Medbay. “ _You_ are going back to the land of the pulseless.”

“What!? Why!?”

“I’ll explain later. Now lie back down and try to look irradiated to death.”

“Bones-!” Jim starts to protest, only to cut off at the hiss of the hypo Bones just stabbed against his neck.

His eyes roll up into his head, and Bones’ catches him, lowering him carefully back against the biobed.

* * *

He stands over the Tribble, eyes flicking between it and the monitors beeping overhead.

“Someone get me a Cryotube now!” he yells, silently praying for his crackpot plan to _work_.

* * *

Carol hears him call and immediately darts over to where he’s stood.

“Doctor, what on Earth are you-?”

“This Tribble was dead Marcus. And then I shot it up with Khan’s blood.”

Carol’s eyes widen, catching the implication of that statement immediately. 

“Kirk…” she breathes.

* * *

“Get this guy out of the cryotube! Keep him in an induced coma!”

Carol shoots him a confused look as he hurriedly starts the defrost sequence.

“We’re gonna put Kirk inside,” he continues, frantically inventing excuses. “It’s our only chance to preserve his brain function.”

Carol turns to face him with a whip of her head.

“How much of Khan’s blood if left?” she asks him.

His grimace in return is almost a snarl.

“None.” He growls, spinning desperately around and reaching for the nearest Comm.

* * *

“Enterprise to Spock! Spock!”

Static.

Dammit!

* * *

Two nurses come rushing back into the main bay, the now empty cryotube wheeling between them.

Bones abandons the Comm and sprints back towards the isolation suite.

* * *

“Doc…? Was’ goin’ on?” Scotty asks woozily, dragging himself to sit leaning against the nearest bulkhead. 

Bones pauses in his mad dash, swivelling to pin the engineer with a glare.

“Dang it, I don’t have time to deal with you being conscious!” he groans. “Stay in this room and keep quiet. Or I’ll hypo you into submission.”

“Doc!?”

“Submission via hypo.” He pointedly tells the engineer, and then starts shoving Jim’s biobed towards the door.

* * *

As soon as Carol starts jamming in the protocols to begin the cryogenic sequence, Bones turns and grabs the Comm again. 

“McCoy to Bridge. I can’t reach Spock. I need. Khan. Alive.” He enunciates clearly. “You get that son of a bitch back on board right now!” He pauses. And then, “I think he can save Kirk.”

* * *

* * *

Spock stumbles into the Medbay behind half a dozen red-shirted security personal. Between them, they’re carrying a bruised, battered and unconscious Khan. 

Bones stabs an extractor-hypo against his wrist before they’ve even finished strapping him to a bed. 

And then, vial of blood in hand, he sticks the strongest sedative they have in stock into the bastard’s neck. Twice.

* * *

He sets the synthesiser equipment to run, and then with a deep sigh, forces his mind away from Jim.

Nothing more he can do for him until they’re docked and able to offload patients.

But the other patients in Medbay? Those he _can_ help.

And at some point he should probably handle the engineer still stuck in the back isolation room.

Dammit, he shouldn’t have let Sulu leave.

* * *

“Scotty sit down.”

“Unbelievable!” the Scotsman exclaims, ignoring Bones and continuing to pace hyperactively.

“Scotty!”

“Have you any idea of the kind ‘o repairs we could do in flight Doc! Ack, I can’t go risking the lives o’ the crew McCoy. But our Captain? ‘E can go crawlin’ all over our wee lassie!”

“Mr Scott!”

“But jus’ think of the upgrades we can do to the ‘ole Proximal Spatial Negator! And the-”

“Good God man! You seriously think I’ll let you use Jim as a human repair bot?!”

Scotty stops and runs his hand through his hair self-consciously, sheepish smile accompanying his ducked head. 

“Erm. So err… How long ‘til he.. you know, stops bein’ dead an all that again Doc?”

“Well I have to get him out of Cryo again first. And then I’ll play it by ear, depending on how many Admirals can’t keep their snouts outta Jimmy’s business.”

“…Unbelievable!” Scotty exclaims again.

* * *

* * *

“Bridge to Medbay.” Sulu’s voice comes over the Comm.

“McCoy here. What’s going on up there Lieutenant?”

“We’re docked and ready for you to start transferring patients. But doctor, you’ve got three Admirals heading your way, and they’re gonna have questions.”

“…Shit.”

* * *

“James T. Kirk, if you do one thing in your measly short but repeatable life, you will remain dead in that cryotube, ya hear me? Don’t you damn well wake up when you’re supposed to be on ice!”

Jim remains still and lifeless in the tube, ignoring Bones’ muttered words entirely.

“I swear to God kid, if you get me in hot freaking water by not staying dead, I will stab in you the face. Repeatedly. With your own rusted and broken engineer’s set square.”

* * *

Barnett, Nogura and Komack stride into his Medbay one after another, halting in a line at the foot of Jim’s cryotube.

Bones strides over from the desk covered in his synthesising equipment, and snaps out a smart salute. 

“McCoy,” Nogura begins sharply. “Report.”

* * *

Over the next ten minutes, he concisely weaves out some of the best bullshit he’s ever heard. And thanks to Jim, he’s heard a lot of bullshit in recent years. So that’s saying something.

“You really think this could work?” Nogura asks him, peering down at the fractional distiller steaming away on his desk.

“Honestly sir, I ain’t got a clue. Humans and Tribbles ain’t exactly got comparable physiologies. But we won’t know if we don’t try. Kirk can hardly get _more_ dead after all.” 

Nogura holds his gaze steadily for several long seconds. Then he turns and glances briefly at Komack, who nods slightly. 

“Pack everything up McCoy, and get your Captain ready for transport. There’s a secure room waiting for you in Starfleet Medical in San Fran. You’ll have access to whatever and whoever you ask for, no justifications needed. I want regular updates, and an agreement that everything that happens from this moment forward is confidential at the highest level. You tell anyone how this plays out before I give you permission to, and you’ll wish the only consequence was your head on a block.”

Bones swallows hard, and then nods sharply.

“Yes sir…”

* * *

* * *

“What do you mean he’s missing?” he hisses at the Admiral later that night, all propriety temporarily forgotten. 

“I mean exactly that Doctor.” Nogura almost growls back unimpressed. “Doctor Boyce has been MIA since the night of the Daystrom attack.”

“Oh, let me guess,” Bones drawls sarcastically, “Admirals Pike and Archer vanished at the same time, and you ain’t got a clue about that either.”

Nogura looks shell-shocked for less than a second, before his face smooths out into practiced calm. Bones isn’t fooled in the slightest. 

“That information is confidential Doctor.”

“Uh huh,” Bones drawls again. “and I bet pointing out that Pike is supposed to be KIA not MIA will only be met with a “no comment” too, won’t it.”

“No comment.”

Bones rolls his eyes when the Admiral allows himself a small smirk.

“Well if I can’t have Boyce, I want L’Ving’Ting.” Bones continues, still blatantly ignoring their relative ranks. “He’s the next best virologist in the ‘Fleet. Get him here asap.”

“I’ll see what I can do. Oh and McCoy? If you try and speak to Komack like that, he’ll have your head on a pike. And I’ll let him mount it in the main atrium.”

“Duly noted _sir._ ” Bones snarks back with a raised eyebrow and his own smirk.

* * *

* * *

Bones spends the next three days cursing himself for a fool; if he’d have known that he would actually have to get this damn serum to _actually work,_ he would have come up with literally any other way of hiding Jim’s _uniqueness._

Goddammit, the Admiralty are actually expecting him to create a miracle here!

* * *

On the fourth day, he runs the simulation programme again, pauses, and then goes charging down the hospital corridor, hollering at the top of his voice.

“Nogura! Nogura, get back here now! Dammit man now!”

* * *

“Are you sure McCoy?”

“I’ll say it again Admiral. He can hardly get more dead.”

* * *

On the fourth day, they extract Jim from the Cryotube and pump his blood full of Khan-Superserum. 

On the fourth day, Jim’s hand twitches.

* * *

As soon Barnett and Nogura have left again, Bones pours clear shellfish concentrate into one of Jim’s IV bags and grabs the encrypted PADD Scotty had snuck into him.

* * *

“You want us to _what_ McCoy!?”

“I want you to break into either the chemistry or physics store and abscond with as much irradiated material as you can get away with.”

_“…why?”_

“‘Cause Jim here is healing the radiation poisoning with his natural freakishness way, _way_ faster than I can account for, even with the cover of this super serum.”

“So you want to re-dose him to avoid suspicion?”

“Yes! So hop to!”

“Oh man, if we get caught, you are gonna owe Scotty and I big time.”

“Simple solution Sulu. _Don’t get caught!”_

Bones hangs up on him before the Helmsman can retort.

* * *

* * *

“Doctor McCoy. I would like to enquire after the current status of the health of our Captain.”

Bones jumps what feels like six foot in shock.

“Jesus Spock! How’d you get in here!?”

Spock not-frowns.

“I simply entered the building through the front doors, ascended to this floor using the left-most atrium turbolift, and walked at a brisk and steady pace along the corridor until I reached the door labelled Kirk, Doctor. When I received no response following my knocking, I used my standard Starfleet ID chip on the door scanner and the door opened. Thus you see me presently.”

“What!? This room is supposed to be in total lockdown!”

Spock not-frowns again.

“I was not informed of this Doctor. Forgive me, I shall correct my error in breaking protocol by leaving.”

“Woah woah, hold up Spock! You’re here now, might as well get your questions answered. Not your fault there was nothing keeping you out.”

“...If you insist Doctor.”

* * *

“Doctor, you are aware that as a Vulcan, many of my senses are more sensitive than those of a standard Terran human.”

“Yes Spock?”

“I must ask then, why it is that the substance you just added to the Captain’s saline IV bag smelt strongly of concentrated Dendrobranchiata, otherwise known as common Earth prawn? It is my understanding that the Captain would have a strong anaphylactic reaction to such a substance, and I can think of no medical advantage such a state would provide.”

Bones screams internally. 

And starts desperately trying to make up more bullshit.

* * *

Oh you know what?

_Fuck it._

* * *

“The Captain is immortal.”

“An immortal pain in my ass yeah.”

“I… I must return to my quarters…”

* * *

Less than two hours later, Spock returns with Uhura in tow.

Or, more accurately, Uhura barges in with a clearly reluctant Spock being dragged along behind her.

“Spock,” he sighs, pinching his brow, “which part of _don’t tell anyone_ went over your pointy-eared head!?”

“During my time here on Earth Doctor, I have learnt that it is not wise to withhold important information from one’s significant other. Particularly when one’s significant other is a fierce and intelligent young woman with a definitive sense of independence.”

Bones looks over his shoulder to where Uhura is peering intently down at Jim. She meets his eyes with a fierce glare and pointedly brushes Jim’s fringe away from his eyes with a gentle caress of her hand. Bones gulps and looks back at Spock.

Spock raises his right eyebrow.

“Mr Spock,” Bones gulps again, “I must conclude that you are a smart man.”

* * *

* * *

A week after his conversation with Nogura in the Medbay of the Enterprise, Bones allows the last of the irradiation to clear out of Jim’s cells and unhooks most of the wires and tubes keeping him “alive”.

Twelve hours later, Jim’s eyelids flicker and then open.

* * *

“Oh stop being so melodramatic, you were barely dead.”

Jim rolls his head to squint at him, shuffling on the bed.

“I’m never only just barely dead,” he croaks back.

“If only that were true! Then maybe I wouldn’t have had to keep poisoning you for the last week.”

“Poisoning?”

“You were supposed to be heavily irradiated, I had to keep up appearances somehow. You heal slower when you’re dead, so I kept you lifeless with the usual tricks and shot you up with radioactive radium and strontium as often as I dared. I just blamed your constant flatlining on the transfusions.”

“What? Transfusions?”

“Yeah. Infused you with a serum I synthesised from Khan’s superblood. Which does actually work by the way. It’s how we’re explaining your miraculous return to the land of the living.”

“Khan?”

“Your blood is now full of his blood. Tell me, are you feeling homicidal? Power mad? Despotic?”

“No more than usual. How’d you catch him?”

“I didn’t.”

Spock steps into Jim’s line of vision, and Jim blanches as he suddenly realises that the Vulcan just heard their entire conversation.

* * *

“Spock. I- Just- Thanks. For saving my life.”

“Apparently Captain, your life has a frequent habit of saving itself. Your thanks are unecess-”

“Spock!” Jim cuts across him, “Seriously, thanks. If you hadn’t caught Khan, I wouldn’t have a cover for my condition. And then who knows what the Admiralty would have done to me.”

“What about me too huh?” Bones smirks from the other side of the biobed. “Where’s my thanks? I’ve saved your scrawny ass more times than I care to recall. And Uhura! She’s the one who stopped Spock from beating Khan’s face into the back of his skull!”

Jim just rolls his eyes fondly and flips Bones his middle finger.

“So what about Pike and Archer?” he asks when Bones only huffs a smile at him. 

Bones sighs and closes his eyes for a second.

“Yeah about that… No one knows still.”

“…fuck.”

* * *

* * *

As has become his daily habit, Nogura comes by the hospital room just after 1800. 

Bones had prewarned Jim that the Admiral was likely to appear in the evening, and accordingly, they ran through their stories to ensure they matched up and were watertight.

Turns out, they needn’t have bothered.

* * *

“Captain Kirk, it’s good to see you conscious.” The Japanese Admiral begins amiably enough.

“Thank-you Sir. It’s good to be conscious.” Jim smiles back. 

“Well now you’re awake, I have a proposition for you.”

“Proposition sir?”

“Yes Kirk. You tell me where you would hide two immortal Admirals if you were a power mad, tyrannical Starfleet Commander-in-Chief, and in exchange, I’ll accidently delete all the security footage showing your helmsman and chief engineer breaking into the biohazard storage facility.”

Bones nearly drops the tray of hypos he’s holding.

* * *

“Well boys? Do we have a deal?” Nogura asks after several long seconds of silence.

“Sir...” Jim begins hesitantly. “I’m not sure I know what you mean by-”

“Cut the crap Kirk. I know you have chronic Spontaneous Lazarus Syndrome.”

Jim looks across at Bones, his face a mixture of panic and shock.

Bones looks back at him, equally as wide eyed.

“Wait.” Bones suddenly, “It has a _name!?”_

* * *

* * *

Jim does not in fact have any clue where Marcus may or may not have stashed his two mentors. He does however, know how to access certain files that Archer had secreted away.

Once Nogura had fetched him a couple of high-spec PADDs and handed over a number of security passcodes, Jim merrily set about hacking into Section 33’s database and archives.

* * *

“Stockholm. Östermalm district. There’s a set of old ‘Fleet buildings there that are on the awaiting-renovation list. Only they’ve been on the list for 15 years and had no change of status. There’s also a record of a transporter trip over there on the night of the attack, only the individual who supposedly made the journey doesn’t actually seem to exist.”

Nogura nods after he’s checked over Jim’s findings for himself. 

“Cross check it with 33’s files to be sure, but I think you’re right. McCoy pack up a full emergency kit; looks like the three of us are going on a top-secret field trip.”

* * *

* * *

Stockholm, in the opinion of McCoy’s good southern gentlemen self, is colder than the blasted pits of deepest, darkest frozen hell. 

Jim happily skips about in his shirt sleeves like the inhuman Iowa-native he is.

* * *

With Nogura’s Acting Commander-in-Chief status, they encounter no trouble in entering the ostensibly abandoned facility. Within seconds of walking in the main doors, a woman claiming to be the division director is fawning all over them and enthusing over the fantastic research they’ve been working on.

They’re less than a minute into the offered tour when Bones realises that the reason Section 33 was keeping this place off the grid, is because most of the biological experiments they’re conducting in the various rooms and laboratories, are _beyond_ illegal.

Illegal, and sickeningly immoral.

* * *

“Is that a brain!?” Jim almost screeches when they poke their heads into one room as they’re escorted round. 

“Yes of course!” The director gushes, “Vulcan no less! We’re currently doing a trail run of a sentient-AI interface computer. Some of the connections are slightly unstable at present, but I have faith my people will solve the melting issue soon. You should hear the screaming it emits when things do go wrong though! By gods, leaves your ears ringing for hours!”

Nogura looks at the woman disgustedly.

“I think I’m gonna be sick.” Jim mutters, before vanishing back down the corridor they just came up.

Bones has to swallow his own nausea back.

* * *

Not long after that, Nogura loses his patience with the woman and demands that they are shown what they came for. 

The woman swallows and nods nervously, obviously trying to hide her anxiety with an overly sunny smile.

* * *

The backrooms in the basement could more accurately be called dungeon cells.

Bones can’t help but notice that Jim is really freaking out, and reaches out and clasps his hand in his.

* * *

Archer is… Not alive when they find the trio of men huddled in one of the dark, damp, metal and concrete cages.

Boyce is laid across Pike’s lap, his breathing damp and rattling. Pike has what Bones’ recognises as infected grade three burns across most of his face and uncovered chest.

Archer doesn’t have much of a chest left. 

Pike’s eyes flicker open and a trickle of blackened blood drips out of the corner of his mouth.

Nogura flips his phasor out of his hip holster and downs the director before anyone can blink.

* * *

* * *

Physically, Pike and Archer are fine within a few days. Boyce, not being “blessed” with the inability to stay dead, takes several weeks to recover from the chronic pneumonia, but modern medicine sorts him out eventually.

Mentally… Mentally they’re all a wreck.

Pike is particularly unstable. 

Thanks to the treatment he received at the hands of Nero, he was already struggling with an anxiety disorder, and though he didn’t like to admit it, did have a PTSD diagnosis in his medical record. Being used as a lab rat repeatedly for a full week in the worst possible way really hadn’t done him any favours. 

“How did you do it?” the man in question stammers as he staggers into the small room in Starfleet Medical that Jim is technically still confined to. 

“How did I do what?” Bones asks him, shooting to his feet to go to the shaking man. But Pike ignores him entirely and wobbles over to the bed where Jim is sprawled out with -of all things- a paperback book.

“Kirk,” Pike practically sobs to Bones’ growing horror, “How did you do it?”

Jim calmly puts his book down, and slowly sits up, one hand rising to settle on the Admiral’s shoulder. Carefully, he pulls the emotional wreck of a man down to sit beside him. 

“I didn’t Chris,” he tells him quietly, “not to start with. I ignored it and I went drinking, and I invented a pain scale of 1 to soul-destroying and I got into fights and tried to forget Kodos by repeatedly hurting myself. But it doesn’t work. Adding more anguish was never going to work.”

“So- So how-”

“It’s actually pretty simple Admiral,” Jim smiles gently. “You find someone brilliant and kind and caring and protective and you get them to dare you to do better. And then you stop just surviving; you let your whole life _revive.”_

* * *

“Jimmy.” Bones says into the near silence. Only the distant whir of city traffic and the soft, regular breathing from an exhausted and asleep Admiral Pike fill the room. 

“Jimmy.” He says again, as they sit side by side on the edge of the bed, an exhausted and asleep Pike curled up behind them, and watch the stars rise above the city they have grown to call home.

“Jim.” He runs his hand over Jim’s knee. Jim catches it in his own hand.

“Ji-” 

Jim cuts him off with a soft press of lips.

Bones smiles as the hot air of their breath mingles.

“Jim. You were my revival too you know.”

**Author's Note:**

> And then Bones made them all go see mental health specialists and they all lived happily ever after. and after. and after.  
> (Goddammit Jim! Stop getting yourself killed!)


End file.
